How do public school athletics differ from private school athletics? How is funding involved? What are some controversies surrounding the issue?
Hannah Gardner
I did not always consider myself athletic but at the beginning of high school I decided to join the school's field hockey team. I finally found my niche and I stuck with it as I transferred from a public high school to a private college preparatory school. After that, I had always been fascinated with the world of athletics and funding, especially the differences and similarities between private schools and public schools. It seemed necessary then that I research athletics and the issues surrounding the topic. The following summaries and reactions are based on articles informing the public on recruiting, funding, coaching, and academic success in relation to private school athletics and public school athletics.
"High School Sports: Private vs. Public" (Editorial):
The article titled “High School Sports: Private vs. Public” is an editorial in the Bleacher Report written by Kevin Cacabelos. In the article, he explains some of the key differences between private school athletics and public school athletics. One of the first points he makes is that he has “gone to private schools [his] whole life, so there will be a little bias in [his] point of view”. He continues by stating that if a person is choosing between two schools he will typically look at location, cost, and the success of the team at each school for the sport he wants to play. His point is that some schools are known for their soccer team while others are known for field hockey. Cacabelos continues by stating data about the sports championships in his town from 2003 to 2007 and whether they were won by private schools or public schools. By analyzing the data, he shows that private schools one all the championships in every sport except for boys basketball. Next, he lists reasons as to why private schools will typically outperform public schools in athletics. Cacabelos says that funding is a large factor because private schools have more money from donors and can use the money towards any sport they would like. Furthermore, because private schools have a lot of money, they have the ability to enter higher leagues and thus compete against larger schools. In addition, private schools have the ability to get kids from all over the state instead of just in the district. Moreover, private schools usually have “feeding programs” from the middle school and camps over the summer where high school coaches can work with prospective athletes before the season begins. Also, parents who send their children to private school usually have money to have their children join travel teams and attend camps and tournaments so that they are playing year round and improving their athletic ability every day. Kevin Cacabelos concludes his article by saying that athletic success seems to come down to money and that he believes that it will always be this way. He does not see anything wrong with the differences between private school athletics and public school athletics.
My initial reaction to this article was that the emphasis was on money being the key differences between private schools and public schools. Obviously this is what most people think of when they think of the differences. Private schools typically have more money than public schools and they can spend it in away way they would like. From my experience, I definitely agree that money has a lot to do with the differences between private school athletics and public school athletics. For example, the field for Classical High School used to be shared by the field hockey team, football team, and baseball team whereas the Astroturf field for Moses Brown is just for field hockey and lacrosse. Money does not only lend to facility differences but also coaching differences. The coaches for Chariho High School teams are usually teachers at the school whereas some of the coaches for Rocky Hill are strictly soccer coaches or lacrosse coaches. I did not need to read this article to understand that money is a difference between private school and public school athletics but it was fascinating to see just how many different parts of sports depend on money.
"Public vs. Private: High Sports without Boundaries" (Analysis Article):
In “Public vs. Private: High Sports without Boundaries,” Andy Marso explains how private schools avoid prospective students choosing their school based on athletics. He explains how many people think that private school athletics seem to dominate public school sports because they have the ability to recruit. This is a misconception though. It is true that private schools can get students from anywhere and many public school parents say this is an unfair advantage. Andy Marzo’s point to the whole article it to show that private schools still have to abide by the same rules as all the other teams in their league (no matter whether they are public or private) and this includes rules about recruiting. Furthermore he states that most private schools have such a high tuition that many students who want to go to that school for athletics are deterred because of the high cost that goes along with playing. A quote from the article states, “’I’ve never seen any say, ‘I’m coming for a specific program.’ Usually it’s because they are unhappy with their old school, or they want a different environment or a faith-based environment.’” In addition, the admissions boards at private schools discourage students from transferring based solely on athletic reasons because the top priority at private schools is education. On the other hand, Marso explains that although private schools are not allowed to officially recruit, the teams, students, and parents recruit themselves. Obviously parents talk to other parents and try to persuade them to send their children to the same private school, it is just a fact of life. Overall, Andy Marzo explains that recruiting is not acceptable in private schools and they do not base their admission process on athletics but sometimes the athletics recruit for themselves.
When I was younger, I always thought that private schools could recruit students for sports. In fact, I wanted to go to Tabor Academy in Massachusetts strictly because I wanted to play girls’ ice hockey. After experience in private school education, I realized that academics always come before athletics. The point of Marso’s article is to drive that point home. Private schools are not allowed to recruit under any circumstances but they do tend to recruit by themselves through students, parents, and winning championships. A clear example of this in Rhode Island is Bishop Hendricken High School. This all boys Catholic high school is known for its sports team who continually win championship after championship. Many boys who are devoted to athletics tend to transfer there after middle school because they want to be on a team that wins tournaments and state titles. Of course some people can see this as an unfair advantage because the school is taking away athletic students from public schools. On the other hand, there is not a clear line between what is recruiting and what is not. I was talking to Jay Fogleman the other day and he explained that when his daughter went for her admissions interview at the boarding school she attends, the interviewer continued to ask her about lacrosse and her All-State Award. Directors of admissions want to make sure that the prospective student can handle the academics before athletics but it is definitely an added bonus when that student is not only academically talented but also athletically skilled.
"Secondary school extracurricular involvement and academic achievement: a fixed effects approach" (Journal Article):
Stephen Lipscomb decided to conduct a research about the effect of extracurricular involvement and academic achievement; he titled his journal article, “Secondary school extracurricular involvement and academic achievement: a fixed effects approach”. He says that past research about academic success and involvement focusing on the long-term effects whereas he wanted to focus on the immediate effects on learning. In the introduction he states, “Involvement is viewed as an indicator of teamwork ability, self-confidence, and the ability to succeed in competitive situations.” Further along he says that there are two sides to involvement: one being that it may improve academic performance in many ways, the other being that it takes time away from studying and homework. The past research on the subject has shown that athletic participate leads to longer years in school after high school. Then Lipscomb goes on to list the data collected, the empirical methodology, the results, and then the conclusion. In the conclusion he states that his “results indicate that participating is associated with a 1.5 to 2 percent improvement in test scores and a 5 percent improvement in Bachelor’s degree attainment expectations”. According to the research Stephen Lipscomb did, academic achievement through students’ learning is positively correlated with athletic participation.
I had always heard that athletic involvement typically increased academic performance in the classroom and this journal article solidified that argument with the data Stephen Lipscomb collected. My first reaction led me to think about why many private schools make athletics a requirement for all their students. Could it be because they think it will improve their academic success or do they just want to educate the "well-rounded" student? Being an athlete in high school, I think that all students should participate in athletics because it produces a sense of community, self-confidence, and leadership qualities that cannot be found in all parts of a school. Furthermore, from my own experience, the athletic students were the ones who performed the best academically because they knew that if their schoolwork started to slack, they would not be allowed to play anymore. This drove them to complete their homework up to the standard and hand it in on time. In addition, it also helped students learn time management skills in order to balance completing homework, studying, practicing, playing in games, and working. On the other hand, because playing two sports a year was a requirement at my school, not everyone enjoyed playing as much as everyone else. The students who were not invested in the team did not achieve as much academic success because they knew that if they were not keeping up with their homework, they would be exempt from practice in order to make up any missed work. Like anything, there are always two sides to the effects of athletics on academic achievement but as long as the student is invested in playing the sport, he will be academically successful like Lipscomb displayed.
Stephen Lipscomb, “Secondary school extracurricular involvement and academic achievement: a fixed effects approach,” Economics of Education Review 26, no. 4 (August 2007): 463-472.
"High School Sports" (Summary Article):
In the CQ Researcher Report titled “High School Sports” by Richard Worsnop, the subject is about athletics, academics, and drugs. Although this was not specifically the research one might look for when comparing public and private school athletics, there was still quite a bit of information concerning the two. The report specifically looks at some issues that have arisen in the past with school and athletics. Two of the major examples that are used throughout the article are the controversy about whether high school athletes should be randomly drug tested and the controversy concerning failing athletes and whether they should be allowed to play or not. It continues to the current situation about recruiting in public and private schools. Private schools were the first schools to have athletics as part of their academic programs. Worsnop says that illegal recruiting for high school athletics happens rarely but some people are unsure as to what to classify as recruiting. For example, “Suppose I’m a parent with a 6-foot-11-inch basketball-playing son attending a public school where I fear for his safety. I call a private school about the possibility of transferring, and they tell me about all the good things my son can look forward to. Is that recruiting? Remember I contacted them first. Yet once I contact them. They’re certainly going to paint the best picture possible of their school.” Moreover, it is typically the children who bring up the option of transferring. A child will go to a sports camp over the summer, make friends with someone who goes to a private school, the private school student talks about how great his team does during the season, and then next thing the child is begging his parents to send him to that private school. Would that be considered recruiting? The next topic that the Richard Worsnop discusses is the types of coaching at each different school. Typically in both schools, sports’ coaches are also teachers. In private schools however, they usually have more money set aside for sports so they can hire personnel outside of the academic faculty who is an expert in a given sport. Obviously the coaches who only focus on their sports team will do better than the teams that are coached by people who have to focus on academics as well as athletics. The report continues by talking about topics that are important to both private schools and public schools such as athletics lawsuits and Title IX. Although the report was not completely about the similarities and differences between private athletics and public athletics, it did provide some information about both as well as basic information needed to understand high school athletics in general.
Although only part of the article was about the differences between private schools sports and public school sports, it was extremely informative about different aspects of athletics that many people would not normally think of such as drug testing athletics and making it mandatory that athletes have a certain GPA. The part dealing with public schools versus private schools discusses the differences with recruiting and the differences with coaching. Both of these sections were not surprising to me. Since I have gone to both public school and private school, I have an understanding of the general differences and similarities amongst the two types. There are so many times during my private school education where someone would bend the rules to allow someone to do something. In addition, the article puts emphasis on the fact that there is no clear definition of recruiting to high school athletic coaches. What is considered illegal and what is legal? There is no clear line. In my opinion, I do not think there will ever be a clear line and it is difficult to monitor recruiting. As for coaching, I think that the differences are fair between private school coaches and private school coaches. The students are paying tuition to attend private school so if some of the money goes towards hiring coaches outside of the school then that is completely fair. Ultimately these two factors that play into private school athletics and public school athletics do not have a right way or a wrong way; it is all based on one’s opinion.
"Public School Athletics Not Meeting Challenges of Private School Sports" (Informative Article):
“Public School Athletics Not Meeting Challenges of Private School Sports” is a short article written in Associated Content about the controversy surrounding private school athletics and public school athletics. The author starts off by saying that this is a problem for anyone who is involved with high school sports. He continues by saying that many people think that private schools should have separate athletic leagues than public school athletic leagues but that people only seem to complain when private school sports dominate. No one complains when public schools can beat private schools. The author thinks there a plenty of public schools that can challenge top-level private schools if they just put their minds to it. Many people give up if they think they are going to lose.Successful athletics teams are born from excellent coaches and a supportive community – nothing else. He sums up his article by challenging parents. He says, “The point is that when we tell our kids not to back down from a challenge – but then don’t want to play private schools – it sends a mixed message.”
After reading this article, my initial reaction was shock because the author brought up points that I had truly never thought about. One of those points being that parents only complain about having separate leagues for private schools and public schools when the private schools dominate. There have been times when I heard the boys’ football team at Chariho complain that Bishop Hendricken always wins football championships and it is not fair that they have to play against them. The author of the article brought up a good point that many times public schools accept defeat against a private school before they even play. They assume they are going to lose and then they do lose. He explains that athletic success does not depend on money, but rather the community and the coaches. Although I know that coaches and community have a large part to do with the success of certain teams, I (along with many other people) put the emphasis on money. I enjoyed how the author challenges parents at the end of the article by saying that they always tell their children to face a challenge but then they want to back down by separating private school teams from public school teams.
How do public school athletics differ from private school athletics? How is funding involved? What are some controversies surrounding the issue?
Hannah GardnerI did not always consider myself athletic but at the beginning of high school I decided to join the school's field hockey team. I finally found my niche and I stuck with it as I transferred from a public high school to a private college preparatory school. After that, I had always been fascinated with the world of athletics and funding, especially the differences and similarities between private schools and public schools. It seemed necessary then that I research athletics and the issues surrounding the topic. The following summaries and reactions are based on articles informing the public on recruiting, funding, coaching, and academic success in relation to private school athletics and public school athletics.
"High School Sports: Private vs. Public" (Editorial):
The article titled “High School Sports: Private vs. Public” is an editorial in the Bleacher Report written by Kevin Cacabelos. In the article, he explains some of the key differences between private school athletics and public school athletics. One of the first points he makes is that he has “gone to private schools [his] whole life, so there will be a little bias in [his] point of view”. He continues by stating that if a person is choosing between two schools he will typically look at location, cost, and the success of the team at each school for the sport he wants to play. His point is that some schools are known for their soccer team while others are known for field hockey. Cacabelos continues by stating data about the sports championships in his town from 2003 to 2007 and whether they were won by private schools or public schools. By analyzing the data, he shows that private schools one all the championships in every sport except for boys basketball. Next, he lists reasons as to why private schools will typically outperform public schools in athletics. Cacabelos says that funding is a large factor because private schools have more money from donors and can use the money towards any sport they would like. Furthermore, because private schools have a lot of money, they have the ability to enter higher leagues and thus compete against larger schools. In addition, private schools have the ability to get kids from all over the state instead of just in the district. Moreover, private schools usually have “feeding programs” from the middle school and camps over the summer where high school coaches can work with prospective athletes before the season begins. Also, parents who send their children to private school usually have money to have their children join travel teams and attend camps and tournaments so that they are playing year round and improving their athletic ability every day. Kevin Cacabelos concludes his article by saying that athletic success seems to come down to money and that he believes that it will always be this way. He does not see anything wrong with the differences between private school athletics and public school athletics.My initial reaction to this article was that the emphasis was on money being the key differences between private schools and public schools. Obviously this is what most people think of when they think of the differences. Private schools typically have more money than public schools and they can spend it in away way they would like. From my experience, I definitely agree that money has a lot to do with the differences between private school athletics and public school athletics. For example, the field for Classical High School used to be shared by the field hockey team, football team, and baseball team whereas the Astroturf field for Moses Brown is just for field hockey and lacrosse. Money does not only lend to facility differences but also coaching differences. The coaches for Chariho High School teams are usually teachers at the school whereas some of the coaches for Rocky Hill are strictly soccer coaches or lacrosse coaches. I did not need to read this article to understand that money is a difference between private school and public school athletics but it was fascinating to see just how many different parts of sports depend on money.
Kevin Cacabelos, “High School Sports: Private vs. Public,” Bleacher Report, January 20, 2009, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/113694-high-school-sports-private-vs-public/show_full.
"Public vs. Private: High Sports without Boundaries" (Analysis Article):
In “Public vs. Private: High Sports without Boundaries,” Andy Marso explains how private schools avoid prospective students choosing their school based on athletics. He explains how many people think that private school athletics seem to dominate public school sports because they have the ability to recruit. This is a misconception though. It is true that private schools can get students from anywhere and many public school parents say this is an unfair advantage. Andy Marzo’s point to the whole article it to show that private schools still have to abide by the same rules as all the other teams in their league (no matter whether they are public or private) and this includes rules about recruiting. Furthermore he states that most private schools have such a high tuition that many students who want to go to that school for athletics are deterred because of the high cost that goes along with playing. A quote from the article states, “’I’ve never seen any say, ‘I’m coming for a specific program.’ Usually it’s because they are unhappy with their old school, or they want a different environment or a faith-based environment.’” In addition, the admissions boards at private schools discourage students from transferring based solely on athletic reasons because the top priority at private schools is education. On the other hand, Marso explains that although private schools are not allowed to officially recruit, the teams, students, and parents recruit themselves. Obviously parents talk to other parents and try to persuade them to send their children to the same private school, it is just a fact of life. Overall, Andy Marzo explains that recruiting is not acceptable in private schools and they do not base their admission process on athletics but sometimes the athletics recruit for themselves.When I was younger, I always thought that private schools could recruit students for sports. In fact, I wanted to go to Tabor Academy in Massachusetts strictly because I wanted to play girls’ ice hockey. After experience in private school education, I realized that academics always come before athletics. The point of Marso’s article is to drive that point home. Private schools are not allowed to recruit under any circumstances but they do tend to recruit by themselves through students, parents, and winning championships. A clear example of this in Rhode Island is Bishop Hendricken High School. This all boys Catholic high school is known for its sports team who continually win championship after championship. Many boys who are devoted to athletics tend to transfer there after middle school because they want to be on a team that wins tournaments and state titles. Of course some people can see this as an unfair advantage because the school is taking away athletic students from public schools. On the other hand, there is not a clear line between what is recruiting and what is not. I was talking to Jay Fogleman the other day and he explained that when his daughter went for her admissions interview at the boarding school she attends, the interviewer continued to ask her about lacrosse and her All-State Award. Directors of admissions want to make sure that the prospective student can handle the academics before athletics but it is definitely an added bonus when that student is not only academically talented but also athletically skilled.
Andy Marso, “Public vs. private: High sports without boundaries,” The Olathe News, August 4, 2008, http://www.theolathenews.com/103/story/181712.html.
"Secondary school extracurricular involvement and academic achievement: a fixed effects approach" (Journal Article):
Stephen Lipscomb decided to conduct a research about the effect of extracurricular involvement and academic achievement; he titled his journal article, “Secondary school extracurricular involvement and academic achievement: a fixed effects approach”. He says that past research about academic success and involvement focusing on the long-term effects whereas he wanted to focus on the immediate effects on learning. In the introduction he states, “Involvement is viewed as an indicator of teamwork ability, self-confidence, and the ability to succeed in competitive situations.” Further along he says that there are two sides to involvement: one being that it may improve academic performance in many ways, the other being that it takes time away from studying and homework. The past research on the subject has shown that athletic participate leads to longer years in school after high school. Then Lipscomb goes on to list the data collected, the empirical methodology, the results, and then the conclusion. In the conclusion he states that his “results indicate that participating is associated with a 1.5 to 2 percent improvement in test scores and a 5 percent improvement in Bachelor’s degree attainment expectations”. According to the research Stephen Lipscomb did, academic achievement through students’ learning is positively correlated with athletic participation.I had always heard that athletic involvement typically increased academic performance in the classroom and this journal article solidified that argument with the data Stephen Lipscomb collected. My first reaction led me to think about why many private schools make athletics a requirement for all their students. Could it be because they think it will improve their academic success or do they just want to educate the "well-rounded" student? Being an athlete in high school, I think that all students should participate in athletics because it produces a sense of community, self-confidence, and leadership qualities that cannot be found in all parts of a school. Furthermore, from my own experience, the athletic students were the ones who performed the best academically because they knew that if their schoolwork started to slack, they would not be allowed to play anymore. This drove them to complete their homework up to the standard and hand it in on time. In addition, it also helped students learn time management skills in order to balance completing homework, studying, practicing, playing in games, and working. On the other hand, because playing two sports a year was a requirement at my school, not everyone enjoyed playing as much as everyone else. The students who were not invested in the team did not achieve as much academic success because they knew that if they were not keeping up with their homework, they would be exempt from practice in order to make up any missed work. Like anything, there are always two sides to the effects of athletics on academic achievement but as long as the student is invested in playing the sport, he will be academically successful like Lipscomb displayed.
Stephen Lipscomb, “Secondary school extracurricular involvement and academic achievement: a fixed effects approach,” Economics of Education Review 26, no. 4 (August 2007): 463-472.
"High School Sports" (Summary Article):
In the CQ Researcher Report titled “High School Sports” by Richard Worsnop, the subject is about athletics, academics, and drugs. Although this was not specifically the research one might look for when comparing public and private school athletics, there was still quite a bit of information concerning the two. The report specifically looks at some issues that have arisen in the past with school and athletics. Two of the major examples that are used throughout the article are the controversy about whether high school athletes should be randomly drug tested and the controversy concerning failing athletes and whether they should be allowed to play or not. It continues to the current situation about recruiting in public and private schools. Private schools were the first schools to have athletics as part of their academic programs. Worsnop says that illegal recruiting for high school athletics happens rarely but some people are unsure as to what to classify as recruiting. For example, “Suppose I’m a parent with a 6-foot-11-inch basketball-playing son attending a public school where I fear for his safety. I call a private school about the possibility of transferring, and they tell me about all the good things my son can look forward to. Is that recruiting? Remember I contacted them first. Yet once I contact them. They’re certainly going to paint the best picture possible of their school.” Moreover, it is typically the children who bring up the option of transferring. A child will go to a sports camp over the summer, make friends with someone who goes to a private school, the private school student talks about how great his team does during the season, and then next thing the child is begging his parents to send him to that private school. Would that be considered recruiting? The next topic that the Richard Worsnop discusses is the types of coaching at each different school. Typically in both schools, sports’ coaches are also teachers. In private schools however, they usually have more money set aside for sports so they can hire personnel outside of the academic faculty who is an expert in a given sport. Obviously the coaches who only focus on their sports team will do better than the teams that are coached by people who have to focus on academics as well as athletics. The report continues by talking about topics that are important to both private schools and public schools such as athletics lawsuits and Title IX. Although the report was not completely about the similarities and differences between private athletics and public athletics, it did provide some information about both as well as basic information needed to understand high school athletics in general.Although only part of the article was about the differences between private schools sports and public school sports, it was extremely informative about different aspects of athletics that many people would not normally think of such as drug testing athletics and making it mandatory that athletes have a certain GPA. The part dealing with public schools versus private schools discusses the differences with recruiting and the differences with coaching. Both of these sections were not surprising to me. Since I have gone to both public school and private school, I have an understanding of the general differences and similarities amongst the two types. There are so many times during my private school education where someone would bend the rules to allow someone to do something. In addition, the article puts emphasis on the fact that there is no clear definition of recruiting to high school athletic coaches. What is considered illegal and what is legal? There is no clear line. In my opinion, I do not think there will ever be a clear line and it is difficult to monitor recruiting. As for coaching, I think that the differences are fair between private school coaches and private school coaches. The students are paying tuition to attend private school so if some of the money goes towards hiring coaches outside of the school then that is completely fair. Ultimately these two factors that play into private school athletics and public school athletics do not have a right way or a wrong way; it is all based on one’s opinion.
Richard Worsnop, “High School Sports” 5, no. 35, How Serious Are the Drug and Academic Problems? (September 22, 1995), http://0-library.cqpress.com.helin.uri.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1995092200&type=hitlist&num=1&action=addfav&time=1259540563373&.
"Public School Athletics Not Meeting Challenges of Private School Sports" (Informative Article):
“Public School Athletics Not Meeting Challenges of Private School Sports” is a short article written in Associated Content about the controversy surrounding private school athletics and public school athletics. The author starts off by saying that this is a problem for anyone who is involved with high school sports. He continues by saying that many people think that private schools should have separate athletic leagues than public school athletic leagues but that people only seem to complain when private school sports dominate. No one complains when public schools can beat private schools. The author thinks there a plenty of public schools that can challenge top-level private schools if they just put their minds to it. Many people give up if they think they are going to lose. Successful athletics teams are born from excellent coaches and a supportive community – nothing else. He sums up his article by challenging parents. He says, “The point is that when we tell our kids not to back down from a challenge – but then don’t want to play private schools – it sends a mixed message.”After reading this article, my initial reaction was shock because the author brought up points that I had truly never thought about. One of those points being that parents only complain about having separate leagues for private schools and public schools when the private schools dominate. There have been times when I heard the boys’ football team at Chariho complain that Bishop Hendricken always wins football championships and it is not fair that they have to play against them. The author of the article brought up a good point that many times public schools accept defeat against a private school before they even play. They assume they are going to lose and then they do lose. He explains that athletic success does not depend on money, but rather the community and the coaches. Although I know that coaches and community have a large part to do with the success of certain teams, I (along with many other people) put the emphasis on money. I enjoyed how the author challenges parents at the end of the article by saying that they always tell their children to face a challenge but then they want to back down by separating private school teams from public school teams.
Vince , “Public School Athletics Not Meeting Challenges of Private School Sports,” Associated Content, October 1, 2007, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/388033/public_school_athletics_not_meeting.html?cat=9.